1. science
2. ecology
3. pollution

 Bangladesh Initiatives ­ Theory vs. Practice Maja Riber Nielsen, student number: 52789 Ulrikke Bjerre Henriksen, student number: 52320 Rasmus Alrø Hofmann, student number: 52098 Patrick Berger Rommedahl, student number: 52664 Supervisor: Johan Fischer Character count: 122987 1 Table of content
● Chapter 1 3 ○ Problem area
3 ○ Problem formulation
6 ○ Why Bangladesh and this specific case
7 ○ Motivations
8 ○ Concepts
8 ■ Climate Change 8 ■ Sustainability
9 ■ Livelihood
9 ■ Vulnerability
10 ○ Theoretical framework
12 ■ Climate Change Theory
12 ■ Theory of Sustainable Livelihood Approach
14 ■ Vulnerability Theory
16 ○ Methodology
18 ■ Methods
18 ■ Data Collection
21 ■ The Philosophical Position of the Project
22 ○ Literature Review 23 ○ Courses Related to the Project
25 ● Chapter 2 ­ Presenting the BCCSAP and Initiatives
27 ○ Background of the BCCSAP
27 ○ T1: Food security, Social Protection and Health
28 ○ T3: Infrastructure 31 ● Chapter 3 ­ Analysis of the BCCSAP in Theory
35 ● Chapter 4 ­ Analysis of the BCCSAP in Ppractice
41 ● Chapter 5 ­ Conclusion
50 ● Literature list
53 2 Chapter 1
In this chapter an outline will be presented of how this project will be built up and structured. This chapter will introduce the problem area within the project and the main concerns. Furthermore this chapter will examine the main concepts which the project is built upon. At last the approach of the project will be explained through theory and methodology. This chapter will give the reader necessary knowledge in order to understand the project. Problem area
Climate changes are a natural phenomenon where the temperature, precipitation, storm frequency and intensity and so on deviates. The issue now is that the climate changes are unfolding faster than the usual rate of climate changes and the weather becomes more extreme. Scientists worldwide agrees that climate change is the cause of human activity, more specifically, the fossil fuel combustion and deforestation are largely the reason (Withgott & Laposata, 2014). According to organisations such as Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (further referred to as IPCC) and Clime Asia, Bangladesh is the sixth most vulnerable country when it comes to floods, and the most exposed to tropical cyclones compared to other developing countries (Al­Amin, 2013). The threat of the effects of climate change is not a distant worry, but a current complication. Bangladesh is already experiencing the climate changes through extreme climate events which has, and will continue to, result in the destruction of homes, fields and entire cities. This is especially critical since one­fourth of the national Gross Domestic Product (further referred to as GDP) in Bangladesh come from the agriculture sector and other similar sectors. This means that one of the biggest income sectors of the country is being challenged by floods and other environmental catastrophes, this leaves the country in a difficult financial situation and obstructs any prospect for improvement of Bangladesh's GDP. It is uncertain how much, or if, the impact of climate changes in Bangladesh will worsen, but the changes in the weather over the past decade is predicted to become even worse (Al­Amin, 2013). 3 There are quite a few different effects of climate change present in Bangladesh, including the following; rainfalls, increases in temperature, unpredictable and extreme weather, high humidity, and seasonal variations monsoon (Al­Amin, 2013). It is difficult to determine exactly whether or not these changes in weather and climate, has been caused by climate change. However, over the last 25 years Bangladesh has experienced six severe floods, and furthermore every year between 30 to 70 percent of the country is flooded. Due to the fact that Bangladesh is located at the entrance of the Bay of Bengal, the impact of extreme weather, and hazards for Bangladesh are higher than in the neighboring countries such as India and Myanmar (Al­Amin, 2013). The IPCC assessed that these changes, which has been described in the paragraphs above, were very likely to be brought on by climate change. If this is indeed correct and the changes are a result of climate change, the challenges of Bangladesh will only worsen and the climate changes is Bangladesh will become an even more dominant threat (Al­Amin, 2013). The issues brought on by climate changes are however not the only problems creating a high level of vulnerability of Bangladesh. Additional issues beside climate changes include; the geographic location of Bangladesh, the high population density (1,221 persons per km2), poverty issues, limited capacity to cope with climate issues, over dependency on natural resources, and low elevation from sea level. On account of the high population density a great deal of the population is considerably affected by these consequences of climate change, but because of the poverty amongst the population many of them do not have the means to migrate to safer areas. This results in a large part of the population therefore being forced to stay in these high risk areas, and endure the challenges of the environment. A large part of the population in Bangladesh is affected by poverty as a result of the low development of the country. Due to this low levels of development measured in Bangladesh the World Bank ranked this country in the category of ‘Least Developed Country’ (Al­Amin, 2013). Because of all these consequences of climate change that Bangladesh is experiencing, the issue has grown more important politically, for policy makers and environmentalists to focus on. In 4 recent years these political organs have been working together in order to cope with the climate changes. Bangladesh is attempting to cope with these challenges with the best capabilities they possess, however they are also considerably dependent on the economic and administrative help that they are currently receiving from international organisations, other countries and policymakers. Because the issues emerging as a result of climate change has become of greater importance, during the last decade a variety of implementations, initiatives, and priorities has been established by the Bangladeshi National Communication in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and in National Development Plans. The government of Bangladesh quickly realised the problematic of climate change for Bangladesh, on account of the geographical placement of the country. Consequently in 1992, the government of Bangladesh signed the Kyoto Protocol. The actions of the international society is crucial for Bangladesh, when it comes to the subject of environmental policies. Considering that fact that Bangladesh does not have the means or opportunity to change the factors causing the climate changes or protect themselves from the consequences of climate change, they are notably dependant on the global societies help. Therefore Bangladesh stood in a situation where they have and still need action to be taken to lessen climate change, and for having a defense against the effects of climate change. All of these factors are contributing to Bangladesh being and continue to be, one of the most vulnerable countries to the impact of climate change and global warming (Al­Amin, 2013). The vulnerability of Bangladesh and the increased political focus on the issue, lead to the establishment of the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (further referred to as BCCSAP) in 2009, created by the Government of Bangladesh, with assistance from various NGO’s, and other nation states. The BCCSAP was created to help the poorest people in Bangladesh and combat the climate changes. The projects main focal point will be the population of Bangladesh, more specifically the sustainability of livelihoods and the vulnerability of the population of Bangladesh. 5 Additionally the project will be focusing on the initiatives created in Bangladesh, to help cope with the challenges of climate change. These initiatives are not only made by the government or civil society, but also by the governments of other countries and international organisations. More specific, two themes in the BCCSAP will be chosen, these themes are “Food security, social protection, and health” and “Infrastructure”. The project only focusses on two out of six themes in the BCCSAP, this is due to the fact that these themes, for this project, have been deemed as the most important ones when looking at sustainable livelihoods and vulnerability. These initiatives will be studied to see as to whether or not these initiatives work in theory as well as in practice. Theories have been found in order to get sufficient knowledge to properly analyse the initiatives. It is important to use both theories in order to get a broader analysis of the initiatives, thus, being able to figure out whether or not the initiatives are working. In addition, a look at how the initiatives are working in practise will be debated (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). Problem Formulation
To what extent are the initiatives from the ‘Bangladesh Climate Change and Action Plan’ successful in terms of improving the sustainable livelihoods of the population? Working questions:
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What are the consequences of Climate Change for the livelihoods in Bangladesh and what is the aim of the BCCSAP? ­
How are the BCCSAP successful in terms of improving the sustainable livelihoods of the population of Bangladesh in theory? ­
What changes has the initiatives brought to the livelihoods of the Bangladeshi people in practice? ­
To what extent does the theory behind the BCCSAP succeeds in practice in terms of improving the sustainable livelihoods of the population in Bangladesh. 6 Why Bangladesh and this specific case
When deciding on a research area for this project, the focus was narrowed down to the subject of climate change. The topic of climate change is often discussed as it is a current issue resulting in various challenges all over the globe. In 2009 the world leaders meet in Copenhagen to discuss this phenomenon. The world population care more about the environment than ever before, even though many countries have so far not experiences the consequences of global warming. It was found to be of interest to look at the consequences of global warming, and it felt obvious for us to choose Bangladesh which is one of the more extreme cases of impact from climate change. Bangladesh alone, is not able to cope with global warming in terms of reducing it. reducing global warming has to be an international act. It was therefore choose to focus on how Bangladesh could adapt to these changes. The sustainable livelihoods of the population was found to be important when investigating how to adapt to these challenges. Logically it was thought that it should be investigated to what extent the theory and practice of the BCCSAP match. The focus was still on the sustainable livelihoods of the population, so it was chosen to use a the theory of sustainable livelihoods and the theory of vulnerability together in order to analyse the sustainable livelihoods the best way possible. It was chosen to first look at the initiatives and see if they are successful in theory and later investigate the initiatives in practise. By doing this it could be viewed how theory and practice match in terms of the BCCSAP. This project does not focus on a specific group of Bangladesh ­ it focuses on the entire population of Bangladesh and especially the vulnerable population in which the climate changes are a threat to their livelihoods. Bangladesh consists of five ecological zones, this means that the consequences of global warming has different impacts throughout the country. There is a big variation in temperature and rainfall through Bangladesh and the impacts of climate change therefore also depends on the area. While some areas has a dry season, others are having floods (Raihan, et al., 2010). The BCCSAP deals with the whole country regardless of the challenges which will be elaborated later when examining the initiatives. The initiatives might for that reason be working in one area of Bangladesh while other areas feel a very little effect of the BCCSAP. This is why this project examines the whole population and not just a specific group 7 of people. By investigating the entire population the project gives a better view of how successful the initiatives are. If the project only focused on a specific area alone where the initiatives were successful, it would not be able to determine the success of the BCCSAP in the entire country. The BCCSAP and the initiatives is created to support and help the whole country, ­ not just specific areas alone. This project therefore also seeks to obtain the whole view of the effects of the initiatives throughout the country by using data and examples from different areas of Bangladesh. Motivation
The motivation for the project comes from the focus on global warming in our surroundings. Due to the fact that all the group members live in Denmark where much emphasis is put upon green energy and protecting the environment. Even though all this focus is put upon global warming, no one in Denmark really feel the consequences of climate change. Due to the educational system in Denmark, students are often told that someday these changes will happen. A big motivation for us is therefore to figure out what the consequences are and how to adapt to them. This was possible for us to do through this project when investigating the adaptation challenges in Bangladesh and that helped us stay motivated throughout the project. Concepts
This project is build on the concepts; Climate change, sustainable, livelihoods and vulnerability. These concepts are the main building blocks of our project and define the area of interest. They are therefore necessary to know in order to understand the project. Climate change
When looking at the concept of climate change it is necessary to understand the the term global warming which is reason for the excessive climate change. First of all, by global warming the following definition is used; The temperature is rising, and it is highly likely that it is caused by emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses into our climate. It has been measured in the past 50 years, an occurrence of the temperatures having risen in levels which previously has not been observed. It is suggested by scientist that the temperature levels at the end of this centuries could be increased with between 3 to 9 degrees celsius. When building further on the 8 concept of global warming to describe climate change, the above mentioned definition will be used to describes the changes which has been brought on by global warming. Global warming has been linked to ice melting including the ice at the poles, which has been linked to floodings, riverbank erosions, drying out of certain areas as well as wildfire, the intensification of certain natural disaster such as tsunamis, hurricanes etc. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2014) Sustainability
Sustainability is most often used in the field of human geography, but can be applied on different areas, mainly within the general social sciences. Sustainability has by Marsden (2009) been described as: “[a] development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Marsden, 2009, p. 104). A further development to this definition, or a sub­concept of sustainability is sustainable development. This sub­concept includes four different factors; economics, culture, politics and as previously mentioned ecology. This understanding of the concept sustainability differs from the ecological understanding, in the sense that it not only includes the natural aspects, but also human made constructions. This shows that human beings and human­construction, has been included in the path to a sustainable way of life. Sustainable development therefore entails balancing human needs without destroying the natural environment (Marsden, 2009). In this project a focus will be on sustainable development when using the concept of sustainability, considering that the project intend to examine the ecological challenges in Bangladesh and how those challenges affect the sustainable development of the economics and politics of Bangladesh (Marsden, 2009). Livelihood
Livelihood is a very broad concept covering various aspects and is characterised by multiple scholars. Owusu (2009) characterises livelihoods by capabilities, assets and activities required in terms of making a living, this also includes material and social resources. Studies within livelihoods have roots from the household survival strategies studies of the 1980s, which correspondingly is seen when looking at the cases where the concept of livelihood is 9 commonly used (Owusu, 2009). The concept is frequently used when studying poor undeveloped countries, or countries in need as a result of a specific event such as a natural disaster. This entails the environmental hazards in Bangladesh where the livelihoods are not just being an irritation but survival is in danger. The livelihoods are necessary to study, when considering how a population will cope with the event. By studying the victim’s livelihoods, it is possible to identify which livelihood resources, financial, human, natural, physical and/or social, are needed the most and thereby find the best possible coping strategy. By studying the livelihoods of Bangladesh, it is also possible to measure how effective the governmental coping strategies are and figure out to what extent the political initiatives have influenced the livelihood of the local people (Mirza, et. al., 2014). In this research a characterisation on livelihoods has been defined, not just by the most crucial needs of survival, but also the essential needs for having sustainable livelihoods. The definition of livelihood adopted in this project therefore involve areas such as health, security, education and income, areas which all have an influence on livelihoods being sustainable. In this case, Bangladesh are dealing with a constant changing and challenging environment. Sustainable livelihood is by that fact very vulnerable. When using livelihood, in addition to the aforementioned, a look at security and vulnerability within livelihood will also be provided. Additionally, a concentration on observing how the locals obtain a secure sustainable income, get a sense of security, and protect or improve their livelihoods. In Bangladesh, some a part of the population choose to migrate in order to achieve a sustainable livelihood. This concept will be used throughout the project when examine the BCCSAP in terms of how it affects the populations livelihoods. Furthermore, a theory will be applied on the concept which will be used as an analytical tool. Vulnerability
There are different ways to understand the concept of vulnerability. The term was originally popularised by Robert Chambers in his 1983 book, Rural Development: Putting the Last First (Wisner, 2009). In this book vulnerability was one of five different elements which Chambers described as being connected. Vulnerability was only one of the five elements, the others being political 10 powerlessness, physical weakness, isolation, and income poverty. These five elements were according to Robert Chambers producing something he called a ‘ratchet effect’ or ‘deprivation trap’. This effect was used to describe a state of poverty, where it is more or less impossible to improve one’s conditions (Wisner, 2009). Another point of view, is presented by Aysan in her keynote speech from the 1993 collection Natural Disasters: Protecting Vulnerable Communities. Here she states different combinations of the word vulnerability and its meaning (Wisner, 2009). The combinations are as in the following quote: “• lack of access to resources (material/economic vulnerability) • disintegration of social patterns (social vulnerability) • degradation of the environment and inability to protect it (ecological vulnerability) • lack of strong national and local institutions (organisational vulnerability) • lack of public awareness (attitudinal and motivational vulnerability) • limited access to political power and representation (political vulnerability) • certain beliefs and customs (cultural vulnerability) • weak buildings or weak individuals (physical vulnerability).” (Wisner, 2009, p. 176). Today vulnerability is often used when discussing these five different topics: Hazards and Disaster Research, Humanitarian Assistance, Public Health, Climate Change and Development Studies. The word vulnerability is within many of these topics used in combination with words such as resilience, risk and adaptability. By this definition vulnerability is considered when looking at how greatly an individual, community, country or likewise would be affected by disasters, epidemics, climate changes and development (Wisner, 2009). In this project the concept of vulnerability will be used in different ways, but the main application when using this concept is to examine how the increasing impact of climate change influences the vulnerability of Bangladesh and its people. Additionally, the project will additionally be using a theory of vulnerability to analyse the initiatives implemented in order to reduce the effects of climate changes on the vulnerability and livelihoods of the people. 11 Theoretical framework
In this project a diverse theoretical framework has been built up. It is firstly based upon climate change theory which will be used as general knowledge in order to understand the current situation and circumstances in Bangladesh. Secondly it is built on sustainable livelihood, where emphasis is put on the five different pillars of capital, and finally the theory of vulnerability will be used in combination with the theory of sustainable livelihood as an analysing tool to examine the sustainable livelihoods. The reason why these exact three theories has been selected to be implemented in the project, is because of their relation to one another. The main focus is put on sustainable livelihoods in terms how they are affected by the initiatives. The reasoning for this is based on the fact that examining the livelihoods gives a great indication of how successful these initiatives are. The theory of the sustainable livelihoods approach helps with examining the livelihoods of the population, which makes the theory useful to the project. People's livelihoods are affected by vulnerability and how secure the individuals feel, which leads us to the usage of the theory of vulnerability. In certain areas of Bangladesh the level of vulnerability is very high, and it is therefore often a focus in the BCCSAP initiatives. A livelihood with high vulnerability will simply not be sustainable in the long run. Security therefore needs to be higher in order to obtain sustainable livelihoods which is the focus of the project. At last, one of the biggest concerns of Bangladesh is the climate change and the effect of it. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the term global warming and the theory behind it. When looking at sustainable livelihood it is important that they do not worsen global warming and are able to adapt to these changes, otherwise it will not be sustainable in the long run. Climate Change theory
Climate has an influence on everything on our planet, from the weather to human health. The climate also have big implications on the economy, since climate have an influence on the crop success and the ecosystems (Withgott & Laposata, 2014). Climate describes an area’s long­term atmospheric conditions, this include various conditions such as temperature, solar radiation, wind, humidity and other conditions alike. It is important to 12 know that climate differs from weather. Weather determines the conditions in an area over hours or days, whereas the climate determines the conditions across large areas over seasons, years or even centuries. Thus global climate change describes the aspects of modification of Earth’s climate, i.e. temperature, precipitation, and storm frequency and intensity. The increase in earth’s average temperature is called global warming. It is important to know, that global warming is only a side effect of global climate change. The climate changes naturally over the course of many thousand years but now the climate changes are unfolding at a rapid rate never seen before. Scientists worldwide agree that it is the cause of human activity, more specific, the fossil fuel combustion and deforestation are largely the reason (Withgott & Laposata, 2014). Three factors influence the climate. The first is the sun, which without it, would make the earth uninhabitable. The second is the atmosphere, without it the temperature would be on average 33 degrees colder, and the difference between night and day would be far greater. The third and last factor, are the oceans. They store and transport heat and moisture. It is important to notice that the sun supplies most of the planets energy, the atmosphere, land, oceans and clouds absorb about 70 percent of the energy coming from the sun, and reflect the remaining 30 percent out back in space (Withgott & Laposata, 2014). As stated above, the earth’s surface absorb about 70 percent of the solar energy or radiation, this surface increase the temperature and emits infrared radiation. There are gasses known as greenhouse gases, these gases include water vapor, ozone (O2), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane (CH4), in addition a lot of human­made gases are included, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). These atmospheric gases tend to absorb the infrared radiation very effectively. This means that after absorbing the radiation emitted from the surface, greenhouse gases subsequently re­emit the infrared radiation in all directions. The re­emitted infrared radiation gets navigated back to earth’s surface, and warm the planet and the atmosphere once again (though some is re­emitted back out to space). This phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect (Withgott & Laposata, 2014). It is important to know that the greenhouse gases are important to the atmosphere and happens naturally, without them, the earth could not support life as we know it today. Therefore, it is not the natural amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but rather the human­generated 13 intensification of greenhouse effect. By adding additional greenhouse gases to the atmosphere over the past 250 years, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, is at an all high. From the late 1700s the Earth’s atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide was at 280 parts per million (further referred to as ppm), to being over 392 ppm in 2011. Thus, it is likely to be the highest in the last 20 million years. The reason for the high carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, is due to human consumption. Carbon is formed by decay of organic material and compression of the matter in wetlands or marine areas hundreds of millions of years ago. This led to the formation of oil, coal, and natural gas buried in the sediments. Over the past two centuries mankind have extracted these materials and burned them in homes, cars, factories, and thus transferring it from one reservoir (underground) to another (atmosphere). This is the main reason why the concentration of carbon is so high in the atmosphere at the moment. In addition to this, deforestation is contributing to the rise of carbon in the atmosphere, due to the fact that forest server as a reservoir for carbon, because living organic material absorb carbon due to photosynthesis. So when mankind remove forests to be able to plant crops, farms etc. they are at the same time contributing to the rise of carbon concentration in the atmosphere (Withgott & Laposata, 2014). Theory of the Sustainable Livelihood Approach
In this project, emphasis is put on the sustainable livelihoods of the vulnerable people of Bangladesh in terms of to what extent they are being affected by the governmental initiatives. Therefore it is important for us to define the term ‘sustainable livelihoods’. The theory of the sustainable livelihood approach (further referred as SLA) is because of that implemented in the project and will be used in our analytical framework when examine initiatives from the BCCSAP. When defining sustainable livelihoods the SLA operates with five different forms of capital (natural, human, social, physical and economic/financial). Each capital is focusing on a specific area within sustainable livelihoods a all the different capitals are connected and one big unit defining sustainable livelihoods. Emphasis of all the capitals together is therefore necessary. According to the investigation, emphasis will in some cases be out on more on some specific 14 pillars then others within the SLA. The social capital could for example be prioritised lower that human capital if the individuals struggle for making a living (Morse & McNamara, 2013). In order to examine the sustainable livelihoods we therefore have to go in depth with the five pillars of capital which is as follows: Natural capital
Natural capital encompases the environmental and natural resources, that add to the livelihoods of the people. This is for example soil, water and natural minerals that they can extract from the nature in order to make a living. When applying a SLA it is important to remember that the natural capital has to be sustainable, and therefore usable in the long run. Exploiting the nature in order to make a living in the short run is therefore not considered a sustainable livelihood in terms of the natural capital. Human capital
This capital contains the skill and knowledge of the individuals, furthermore it includes the health, physical capabilities of the individuals. This means that it, among others, contains the health and education system which is a very important part livelihoods, in order to gain a ‘meaningful life’ and be able to obtain a job. Social capital
Social capital reflect on the social resources such as networks, social relations and associations. scholars emphasise different aspects of social capital but they all agree that social networks have value. In the case undeveloped countries, social network is used to help each other in order to overcome the challenges. Physical capital
Physical capital embrace everything physical built by humans. It is everything from infrastructure, the type of buildings possesed, to smaller equipment at technologies. Economic or financial capital
The Economic or financial capital defines the financial position of the individuals or the economic position of the society where the individual operates within. This is a very big part of livelihoods in the western world, but in struggling countries emphasis on the economy is not as 15 big because the focus is more towards making a living (Morse & McNamara, 2013; African Development Bank et. al., 2003). On top of the five different pillars of capital, Bebbington (1999) states the capitals have three distinct roles; Vehicles for instrumental action is everything needed within the five pillars in order to make a living. The hermeneutic action is making living meaningful which is a very important part of the modern perspective of livelihood. This can for example also embrace culture and religion since it can help make living meaningful. At last Bebbington (1999) mention the emancipatory action which is the all the challenges for making a living and making life meaningful. in this project for example it encompases the poverty and environmental challenges. By including Bebbington’s (1999) three distinct roles of the capital, our investigation has a more modern view where the terms of making life meaningful and not just making a living is in focus. This also helps us define when the population have a ‘good life’ which is useful when analysing to what extent the initiatives are successful in terms of sustainable livelihoods of the population (Bebbington 1999). As stated above we intend to apply this theory, in our analytical work. In this project it is intended to mainly analyse the initiatives drawn up by the government of Bangladesh and other International organisations in the report ‘Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan’. In order to do analyse these initiatives we will be using the criteria of the capitals as a measuring tool, as well as the tools from vulnerability theory, which will be presented in the following part. Vulnerability Theory
In this section a presentation of the theoretical framework concerning vulnerability will be presented. The theoretical framework presented here is mainly built on one source. The theory of vulnerability is somewhat similar to the theory of capitals explained in the previous chapter, however both will be used because they highlight different aspects. As described by Reed et. al (2013) vulnerability can essentially be described as how much a crisis will be able to influence a social or natural structure, the more a structure can be altered the more vulnerable it would assumably be, and therefore the less sustainable it would be. To specify this more the factors that will determine vulnerability of a structure would be 16 described in terms of how a population would handle being in jeopardy, how delicate they are in terms of sustaining change, how well they can accomodate from the change which occurs. When conducting a vulnerability framework, these element are the essential (Reed, et al, 2013). An example of this can be if a country is hit by a hard storm, how hard would it hit them, how are their structures already built to hold up against disaster, how well do they accommodate this storm, how fast will they bounce back from the damage created by the storm. The theory put forward from Reed et. al. (2013) helps establishing a certain set of elements which can help in determining a framework for procedures, initiatives etc. which slightly differs from other theoretical framework within vulnerability research. This is the theory which is focused on when using vulnerability in this project (Reed, et. al. 2013). The premises for using vulnerability as a theory in this project, is that in order for a population to be sustainable and viable, the population and the frames in which it exists should not be vulnerable. So the initiatives implemented ought to seek to reduce vulnerability, the following factors described by Reed et. al. (2013) under here, are meant as factors for policymakers to implement into the legal framework they make. Therefore these factors will be used for criteria for our analysis, that the initiatives will have to be created on. The factors used to make a framework as described by Reed et. al. (2013) are the following; “1. Determine the likely level of exposure to climate change, and how climate change might interact with existing stresses and other future drivers of change; 2. Determine the sensitivity of stocks of capital assets and flows of ecosystem services to climate change; 3. Identify adaptation options and factors influencing decisions to develop and/or adopt different adaptation strategies, based on innovation or the use/substitution of existing assets; and 4. Identify and evaluate potential trade­offs between adaptation options.” (Reed et. al., 2013, p. 72). These factors are used as a guideline or suggestion of which components should be considered when making policies etc. regarding climate change and livelihoods. This theory and the SLA theory, will build upon one another and back each other up in our analytical chapter. The way which the theories will be implemented in the project is using it as a measurement to see if the initiatives made live up to these criteria to lessen the level of vulnerability in 17 Bangladesh. The criteria will be further pencilled out in the analytical chapter to explain exactly how we will be implementing this theoretical framework as our analytical framework. Methodology
Methods
This project investigates to what extent the initiatives from the BCCSAP are successful in terms of reducing vulnerability and improving the sustainable livelihoods of the population. It entails a detailed and intensive analysis of a single case, and can therefore be defined as a case study (Bryman, 2012). Emphasis is put on the five different pillars within sustainable livelihoods which will help us examine to what extent the initiatives are successful or not. This is done through an analysis of specific initiatives in the BCCSAP which is helped along by the concepts and theories applied to this project. When we examine “To what extent are the initiatives from the ‘Bangladesh Climate Change and Action Plan’ successful in terms of improving the sustainable livelihoods of the population?”. The research question is based on an assumption stating that the sustainable livelihoods of the individuals are affected by the initiatives. This leads to the main focus of the project; when it is examined to what extent the sustainable livelihoods of the population is being affected the five pillars of the sustainable livelihood theory and the theory of vulnerability will be applied to measure how successful the initiatives are. Our research strategy, in chronological order, was first to build up necessary background knowledge regarding the current situation in Bangladesh. This showed many interesting problematics which resulted in a specific focus of the livelihoods of the population. This led to the research question focusing on how the livelihoods can be improved, and how the government of Bangladesh is trying to improve the livelihoods through the BCCSAP initiatives. Necessary theories and concepts was later found in order to have a proper critical analysis and investigation of the governmental initiatives. In this research a secondary analysis approach is adopted, this makes it possible for us to utilise the collected data of other scholars’ and researchers’, without having to spend the the time and resources gathering data. This gives us some advantages however it also gives the project limitations; The usage of a secondary analysis, gives us more time analysing or re­analysing the 18 data, because we did not have to spend the time gathering it. This gives us the advantage of going more into depth with the research, and maximising the utility of others collected data. By using secondary data, high­quality data will be provided, which in some cases can take years collecting, collecting data of that caliber would not be possible for us within the given time frame. It also gives us the possibility of collecting various of researchers data contrasting them, or using them together in order to find an answer to our questions. On the other hand the usage of secondary data gives us lack in familiarity of the data, the literature collected might to some extent be biased. Therefore we have to be aware when for example using official data, by the government of Bangladesh, that this data might to some extent be subjective, in order for them to best present their agenda. We therefore have to be critical when interpreting secondary data (Bryman 2012, p. 315; Connelly, 2010). This project adopts an intensive qualitative content analysis of secondary data. Content analysis is a research technique implemented to describe the content with an objective, systematic and quantitative way, additionally it is the technique to identify specific characteristics. This is done through objectivity and systematic approach, when using content analysis, it is of great importance to be systematic and continuous. It goes without saying that the author should be as objective as possible, in order to understand the message as it is meant to be understood. However, the author of the content might be biased, which has to be taking into consideration while analysing the content. Furthermore, content analysis is often utilised as ‘quantitative description’, content analysis is applied in the research part of the project. This does not mean that one can only use content analysis to analyse quantitative material, it can also be used in analysing qualitative material. Content analysis is used to uncover what real meaning of the content, what is it really about. Additionally, it enables the reader to uncover what lies beneath the surface, what is the author expressing “between the lines”. There are clear advantages with using the content analysis one of which is due to the easy replication of the findings. The most important part of content analysis, at least the this project, is the fact that students using content analysis do not have to go through the same level of ethical scrutiny that is normally common for other methods used. Additionally, content analysis can be applied to almost every kind of textual information. Content analysis is therefore implemented in the project. This is done through an 19 investigation of the initiatives and the effect it has of the populations sustainable livelihoods. The theory of the sustainable livelihood approach is used as an analysing tool in order for us to be able to examine and measure the effects from the initiatives (Elo & Kyngäs, 2008). Our theories are applied when investigating the initiatives and help us examine to what extent the initiatives are successful, and what consequences they may have in terms of global warming, livelihoods and vulnerability. According to Bryman (2012), this project applies a deductive approach, since it is based on a discussion seeking to discover to what extent the sustainable livelihood of the population are being affected and if the initiatives could be improved. The deductive approach will through an analysis of the initiatives result in a discussion in order to answer our research question. The advantage of following a deductive approach is that it gives a greater possibility of using a discussion to shape the project (Bryman, 2012). As mentioned earlier our main focus is the BCCSAP and its effect on the population, this is the base of our project and an in depth content analysis of the BCCSAP is therefore utilised. With the knowledge from the analysis a critical discussion will be conducted, where an examination of the consequences of these initiatives will be regulated and thereby it will possible to answer the research question. The BCCSAP contains an immense amount of initiatives, which with the given time frame and size of project it has not been possible to examine. Emphasis has therefore been put on two specific themes of initiatives which are intended to improve the sustainable livelihoods. The advantage of narrowing in on two themes of initiatives, is that we are more capable to go into depth with the two chosen themes throughout the analysis and discussion. The disadvantage regarding this, is that we are not able to examine all the initiatives and we will therefore not be able to examine the consequences of the entire BCCSAP as one unit. We are only able to make an assumption from the data we collect from the two specific themes of the BCCSAP. Because of this, there might be some initiatives affecting the sustainable livelihoods which we do not cover within the project (Bryman, 2012). 20 Data Collection
As mentioned in the paragraphs above, this project uses a secondary analysis approach, which allows us to implement other scholars’, and researchers’ collected data without having to use the resources of gathering it oneself. These resources, was therefore spent on analysing data that has already been collected, which provided us with the advantage of going more into depth with the research and maximising the utility of others’ collected data (Bryman, 2012). The work of more experienced scholars, with time dedicated to collecting data, is more valid than it would be in our case, this material will then be analysed and reviewed (Bryman, 2012, p. 313). Throughout the research process, we used keywords such as ‘climate change’, ‘sustainable livelihood’, ‘Bangladesh’ in keyword search engines like ISI Web of Knowledge, Summon and SCOPUS in order to find useful data. We put attention on the author's background in order to be aware of their experiences and work. Citations were looked upon in order to see where other researchers have got their data from and if someone is referred more often. A snowballing method has often been applied when coming across an interesting viewpoint, quote or reference. This has been used to find further readings, terms and expanding on our range of knowledge. This method was in the beginning of our project, mostly used in order to find different viewpoints, terms and concepts used, in order to get basic knowledge about the case. Later in our project when we knew our focus, we mostly used the snowballing method by looking at a text’s literature list and by that come across new data. When searching for text’s, an aspect of content analysis have been applied in order to figure out if the current text is usable for us or not. By firstly skimming the text for specific keywords, authors and focus, we were able to determine if the text is usable and therefore worth reading. This was in some cases also done by reading the introduction and conclusion. By using this method, we have saved a lot of time by making sure that we have mostly been reading useful data. Both qualitative and quantitative sources are used throughout the project. The qualitative literature from scholars is our main source of knowledge and will be used in our analysis and discussion. The quantitative sources are mostly used to support to the main arguments found through analysis of qualitative data. This was done in order to establish a solid foundation for the 21 conclusions made through the project. The quantitative sources used consists official country reports from the government. The philosophical position of the project
The philosophical position of this project goes towards interpretivism. Interpretivism is usually seen as an alternative to the orthodox positivism in the way that the interpretivist position doesn’t see natural science as being a sufficient way of studying social actions. Interpretivists have a greater interest in looking at people and their social relations and the objects of natural science separately since they find them fundamentally different (Bryman, 2012). According to Toulmin (1961) human life and society does not exist in a vacuum, but in the world which is intertwined and data therefore needs to be interpreted and understood in context in order to be truly understandable. Bryman (2012) mentions that interpretivism is a clash between the above mentioned positivism and hermeneutics. In positivism the objective is to explain the human behavior and positivists believe that the world, including human behavior and social constructions, can be studied using methods of natural science (Petersen, 2014). Hermeneutics on the other hand is mainly focused on understanding human behavior and the social constructions. Hermeneutics studies the world from the perspective of the social actors and believe that it is necessary to understand social aspects in order to study the world and society (Bryman, 2012). It is also possible to see the philosophical position of this project from the chosen theory. The first theory used in the project is a theory from natural science and is therefore not as easily categorised, but the fact that a theory from natural science is used in a social science project points toward the usage of natural science methods which is usually characteristic in positivism. On the other hand both the theory of capital and the theory of vulnerability are more concerned with social constructions. The last mentioned theories are therefore more interpretivists and even to some extent hermeneutic as the main concern of the theories is to understand the consequences for the individuals exposed by climate changes, poverty and other obstacles. One can also argue that certain principles from holism are also used in this project. Holism is the idea that all the properties from a certain system should be viewed as a whole and that the 22 importance of the system cannot be identified only by examining the different components (Delanty and Strydom 2003). The holistic point of view is used when looking at Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy Action Plan (BCCSAP) which will be presented later in this project. The BCCSAP consists of many different initiatives and components, but none of them will work effectively if not all of them are executed. The ideas of holism are also relevant in relation to the theory on capitals as this theory also consists of different forms of capital. It is only possible to see the full extent of the capitals if they are not seen as a whole. In this chapter a display of the problematic described in this project, methodology, theory, and concepts has been put forward. There has been an establishment of why the problematic is important to discuss, how this will be implementing the theory into the project, by using it as analytical framework, of which methods will be used, and what the central concepts are. Literature Review
The following section is about the most important literature used in this project. This section has been written because we found it necessary to describe some of our main literature, and the potential biases which they show. We do this to demonstrate that this is something which we have considered when writing this project, and inform the reader of these flaws. Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP):
This policy document is a plan to combat the Climate Changes through initiatives in a 10­year plan. The plan is published in 2009 by the Government of Bangladesh, with the help of NGO’s, civil society, and other national governments (i.e. Denmark, Sweden, UK). In the beginning of the document, the history (as well as the climate history) is outlined, which gives a general knowledge about Bangladesh. Later on it moves on to talk about the natural disasters that has happened in Bangladesh in the last century. Finally, and most importantly, a description of all the initiatives that are being funded in Bangladesh is given. These initiatives are implemented in order to help the the poorest and most vulnerable people in Bangladesh, with the help of government funding and in the form of trust funds. The initiatives are of great importance to the 23 project, since there is a clear focus on the initiatives, and whether or not they are successful at increasing the sustainable livelihood of the population. The BCCSAP is somewhat biased, it might be pushed in the direction NGO’s, donors, and other Governments who has interests in Bangladesh (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). Understanding Climate Change from below, addressing barriers from above:
The project (Understanding Climate Change from below, addressing barriers from above) is about the climate changes in Bangladesh and how to address these already happening changes. With a philosophy of “Think global, act local”, the project is about how the international society, as well as the Government of Bangladesh, should help the local constituencies and communities. Furthermore, a look at the BCCSAP and the initiatives that are being implemented in Bangladesh is being investigated. Only a selected area in Bangladesh is being investigated in the terms of the initiatives implemented in that area. Furthermore, local knowledge will be provided on how the initiatives have helped the local population in Bangladesh, and whether or not these help with a sustainable livelihood. The project is biased in the sense that the authors might have had expectations in terms of what they would find once they started investigating the initiatives (Raihan, et al., 2010). Sustainable Livelihood Approach A Critique of Theory and Practice:
In this book “The Theory behind the Sustainable Livelihood Approach”, will be used. The definition, origins, and structure of the theory is provided, in this book. In addition, the framework of which the ‘Sustainable Livelihood Approach’ is being used, is presented in this chapter. Furthermore, all the different capitals in the ‘Sustainable Livelihood Approach’ is being explained in depth. In this project, only the definition of the theory will be used. The theory will thus be used to analyse the initiatives provided by the BCCSAP. Therefore, this chapter will add to the theoretical framework for the project (Morse, S. & McNamara, N., 2013). 24 Poverty and Climate Change - reducing the vulnerability of the poor through
adaptation:
In this text the authors describe climate change, vulnerability, and adaptation. They seek to describe how the world population must try to adapt to climate change, as well as how vulnerability and climate change are intertwined, and must be taken into consideration. Then they move further to describe how in order to establish a sustainable livelihoods, you must take vulnerability into the equation. Then they move into discussing factors which furthermore are important to establish a sustainable future. When using this report there has had to be an awareness of the bias of the report, it is very pro­humanitarian, it is determined in the fact that climate change is worst for the weaker group of people. However it has been included this because despite its bias, it still has points which have proved to be very useful for this project (African Development Bank, et al., 2003). Challenges in Climate Finance Governance and the way out:
This paper is about the initiatives created by the BCCSAP, with additional focus on the funding. A lot of focus on BCCTF and BCCRF and their accountability and independence is presented in this paper. Furthermore, field work has been done by the authors in the form of visiting an area in Bangladesh where ‘Cyclone Resilient Houses’ has been built. Interviews have also been conducted to get the opinion on the initiatives by the local population. The paper is somewhat biased, due to the authors might have had a presumption on what their findings would be. Additionally, only a “small” area in Bangladesh is being investigated, and in no sense represent the overall success of the initiatives created by the BCCSAP (Haque M., et al., 2011). Courses related to the project
This project fits with the courses that we have attended so far. The topic can be related to all four standard courses which includes Sociology, Politics, Economics and Planning, Space and Resources (further referred to as PSR). In this project the focus is however mainly concerned with the course of PSR. 25 The project and the subject of PSR are mainly correlating regarding people livelihoods and planning for adaptation. PSR offers an understanding of the knowledge from PSR which is used when defining the concepts of ‘livelihoods’, ‘vulnerability’ and ‘sustainability’. As the name of the course states, PSR focus on planning, space and resources which entails studying society when it is influenced by factors concerned with distance and location as well as technology, environment and so on. The projects focus on environmental challenges, the planning of the BCCSAP and plans of how to adapt to the changes makes PSR a core component in the studies of this project. Even though Politics is not the main focus in the project, however one could argue that it still plays a role in the project since the initiatives analysed is practically climate change adaptation policies. Also when considering the fact that we look into the process of how the formation behind the policy­making has been, which actors has been involved it, how they act, and discuss this later in our project. It can be argued that Politics has definitely been present in this project work. Sociology is also a relevant course in relation to this project since the the influence that both the challenges caused by climate changes and the initiatives have on the people of Bangladesh. Furthermore this subject is also relevant because we look a bit into how society and the general population, are adjusting to this, what would fit in best with their lives etc. The course of Economics are not very interlinked with this project, but it would be possible to look at the consequences for Bangladesh when much of the support concerning initiatives is received from other countries and NGO’s, if one were building further upon this project this could be another concept to include. 26 Chapter 2 - Presenting the BCCSAP and initiatives
This chapter will be presenting the BCCSAP and some of the included initiatives. This is necessary for the project in order to later investigate the theory behind the BCCSAP and how it works in practice. This chapter will first describe the background of the BCCSAP, Later we will go in depth with two specific themes of initiatives in the BCCSAP. These themes are: ‘Food security, social protection, and health’ and ‘Infrastructure’. The reasoning for choosing these themes are, that they focus mostly on the sustainable livelihoods of Bangladesh which is the main topic of investigation in this project. The description of the themes will later in our project be used when investigating the theory vs. practice of the BCCSAP. Background of the BCCSAP
The BCCSAP come from two individual bodies, the Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund (further referred to as BCCRF) and Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (further referred to as BCCTF). The BCCRF is the coordination organ between the Government of Bangladesh and the World Bank. Their goal is to counter the climate changes, with financial help of other nations. the nations who are assisting financially include Denmark, European Union, Sweden, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia and United States. The government of Bangladesh received over 188 million US dollars to help countering the climate change. The important difference between BCCRF and BCCTF, is that in the operations of the BCCRF the World Bank oversee every project (Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund, 2013). The BCCTF was established in 2002 by the Canadian International Development Agency, to reduce vulnerability to Climate Change, in 2008 it changed into the name of BCCTF in order to support the implementation of the BCCSAP. It now operates through government approval of a climate change trust fund act, the BCCTF receives annually 100 million US dollars from the Government of bangladesh. Within the BCCTF there is a technical committee that review the project proposals, develop annual work plans and projects for the trust, and help the board trustees make policies and funding decisions (Rai, Huq, & Huq, 2014). 27 T1: Food security, social protection and health
The first theme that is chosen, is ‘Food security, social protection, and health’. The first programme under ‘Food security, social protection, and health’ is “Institutional capacity and research towards climate resilient cultivars and their dissemination”. The aim of this initiative is to build research centers that focuses on genetically engineering different crops and rice to withstand the climate change. As stated earlier the temperature is expected to rise with 2 degrees celsius, maybe even more, which can have an influence on the crops. In addition, an increase in droughts, floods, and saline infusion will severely damage the crops and cause big losses. Therefore, it is important that research facilities receive capital in order to develop new crops. Furthermore, research needs to be done in order to determine the impact on other food and non­food crops. It takes roughly 7­8 years to breed new cultivars, certify them, and release them to farmers in a “field trial”. Therefore, the timeline for this initiative is ‘medium to long term’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). The second programme is closely linked to the first, it is called “Development of climate resilient cropping systems and production technology”. It is very similar to the previous programme, but has a focus on the cropping systems the farmers are using. The climate change will cause severe floods, droughts, erratic rainfall, and saline infusion at coastal line. Therefore, the farmers need to use different cropping systems or as a minimum, modify them. Research is needed in order to determine what modifications, or which systems that are best against different climate changes. Thus, the Bangladeshi government has initiated this programme to help organisations and NGOs with developing new mechanisms (such as water management, mulching, raised beds and early warning and weather forecasting for diseases, droughts, floods etc.). Due to the many different mechanisms and systems, including a development of an ‘early warning system’ is necessary. The timeline for this programme is set to ‘medium to long term’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). The third programme is an addition to the previous two programmes. It is the “Adaption against drought, salinity submergence and heat” programme. The reason why this programme needs to 28 be for itself, and not a part of the previous two, is due to the fact that rice crop, aman (a type of rice), is accounting for over 40 % of the rice production in Bangladesh. It is therefore, at utmost importance that methods is being developed so the effects of the droughts won’t affect the crops. This programme solely focuses on mapping areas vulnerable to droughts, floods and salinity. The timeline for this programme is estimated to ‘short to medium term’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). The fourth programme is called “Adaptation in the fisheries sector”. The objective of this programme is to adapt the fishing sector in Bangladesh. Due to the fact that most of Bangladesh is low level delta, the implications of sea level rise is great. Therefore, the climate change are likely to affect the freshwater fisheries due to saline is likely to move further inland. With the temperatures rising, freshwater species might now spawn at the same rate as normal. In general the aquatic ecosystem will be affected greatly by climate change in Bangladesh. Therefore, all the potential impacts must be identified and learned to be managed. The timeline for this programme is ‘medium to long term’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). The fifth programme in the BCCSAP is “Adaptation in livestock sector”. This program is highly aimed to the poorest and most vulnerable population of Bangladesh, the farmers. Due to higher ambient temperatures, with the already high risk of droughts and floods, will affect poultry and livestock. Thus, with the higher temperatures it might affect the growth chickens, ducks and other birds. This might also be due to the fact that grazing lands won’t be so productive. In addition the health of the animals might be affected, due to parasites and bacteria increase in breeding. It is therefore necessary to understand these processes and develop adaptive measures to counter the climate change and give to the farmers. The timeline for this program is ‘medium to long term’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). The sixth programme is “Adaptation in health sector”. The objective of this is to research and monitor disease patterns and the social and economic cost of disease, in order to develop adaptive measures. One of the impacts of global warming and climate change is the increase in the so called ‘Vector borne diseases’ (diseases like malaria and dengue fever). Also diarrhoeal 29 diseases will most likely increase due to increased flooding and drainage congestion. Global warming will also raise the temperatures during summer season, which will increase the risks for heat strokes, which could be further aggravated by drinking water shortage. Therefore, it is important that the monitoring of the diseases linked to climate change are upgraded and developed adaptative strategies. The timeline for this programme is estimated to ‘medium to long term’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). “Water and sanitation programme for climate vulnerable areas” is the seventh programme in the BCCSAP. The objective with this programme is simple, ensure adequate water supplies and improved sanitation. Bangladesh is already experiencing challenges regarding clean and accessible drinking water (this is due to areas with saline surface and groundwater and in areas where drought is common). In these areas it is likely to get a lot worse. Bangladesh is experiencing increasing drought periods, this will affect the availability of surface water and drinking water from normal hand tubewells. Therefore, investment in deep wells is necessary, along with conservation of water and rainfall harvesting techniques. Due to the sea level rising, salinity will sink into the groundwater, and potentially ruin the clean drinking water. Therefore, the need to monitor the quality, and the quantity, of the drinking water is a necessity, along with the development of strategies to increase the supplies of drinking water. This is all in the long term, and something must be done now, so in the meantime an effort should be made in order to provide clean drinking water to people currently living in drought­prone and saline affected areas. The timeline for this is ‘short, medium and long term’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). The eight programme is “Livelihood protection in ecologically fragile areas”. The main objective of this programme is to address the impact on ecological fragile and vulnerable areas. As stated earlier, the climate change will affect many regions in Bangladesh and climate related disasters may destroy homes, incomes and employment. Therefore, strategies needs to be in place to help households become climate resilient and ensure economic and social stability. Of course special attention will be given to women and children. The timeline for this programme is ‘short, 30 medium and long term’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). The ninth and last programme in this theme is “Livelihood protection of vulnerable socio­economic groups (including women)”. The objective with this programme is somewhat simple, ensure equitable and sustainable development of all vulnerable socio­economic groups. T1P8 and this programme (T1P9) is closely linked together. While T1P8 will focus on the people ecologically fragile areas, this programme will focus on the poor and vulnerable across the country. The poor and the non­poor in Bangladesh will be affected differently due to different assets and income, but both groups will be affected. Different groups will be affected different, and thus the help they need, will be different. Fishing families will be affected by marine ecosystem; poor and marginal farmers will be affected by the greater risk at crops failing, and will need help to protect them from income losses. People who are physically and mentally challenged will need special protection. In addition women and children are in general more vulnerable than men, especially in the poorer regions, they will get prioritised higher than men. The programme will provide protection against lost employment and income, in other cases health might be more important. Social and welfare measures might also be a necessity. The programme will change in order on how vulnerable separate groups are, and thus get support accordingly. The timeline for this programme is ‘short, medium to long term’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). T3: Infrastructure
The next round of initiatives described are ones which surround the theme of Infrastructure. The first theme is “Repair and maintenance of existing flood embankments”. All around Bangladesh there is constructed embankments near all major and medium sized rivers. This is the key component/structure in flood management system in all of Bangladesh. A lot of the existing embankments are in poor shape, and badly needs maintenance. Many places in the embankments are cut open by the local population in order to get water. The holes are quickly repaired, but these cuts are vulnerable for breach. Even though the local population is ‘cutting’ in the embankments, the embankments have provided protection from floods, and more 31 people are moving to places with embankments. The local population is also abandoning the traditional building approach where houses are built on raised mounds, due to the great protection from the embankments. Therefore, the main objective with this programme is to ensure continued maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation for existing flood embankments. The timeline for this programme is ‘’immediate” (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). The second programme is similar to the first one, it is; “Repair and maintenance of existing cyclone shelters”. The entire coastline of Bangladesh is at great risk against cyclones. The flooding embankments can be overtopped, thus, shelters are a necessity. Many of the existing shelters damaged and need repairing. The cyclone shelters in Bangladesh is considered a success, making the necessity for repair and maintenance even more crucial. Therefore the objective for this programme is straightforward, “to make existing cyclone shelters safe and functional”. The timeline for this programme is ‘immediate’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). The third programme is similar to the first and the second programme, once again it is about the repair and maintenance. The programme is “Repair and maintenance of existing coastal polders”. As explained above, Bangladesh experiencing severe cyclone weather and storm surges. More than 7000 kilometers of coastline has been protected by the polders. These polders needs maintenance and repairing. The timeline for this programme is ‘medium’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). The fourth programme is “Improvement of urban drainage”. The current storm drainage system was designed to historical heavy rainfall data. This will not suffice in the future, due to the impacts of climate change likelihood of increase in the number of episodes of heavy rainfall. The sewer system will not be able to handle the water, and cause logging due to drainage congestion. Many major cities are becoming increasingly vulnerable and they are already experiencing water logging due to heavy rainfall, and the side effect of the heavy rain. In order to prevent such event to happen again, the sewer system needs improvement, and new system must be designed to handle the impacts of climate change. The timeline for this programme is ‘medium term’ 32 (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). Fifth programme is “Adaption against floods”, the objective with this programme is to make flood prone areas, more flood resilient. The frequency and intensity of floods will increase due to global warming, therefore, it is important to upgrade structural measures against floods. A new flood vulnerability map will be developed in this programme, in order to determine the most vulnerable areas prone to flooding, so adaption against floods will be most efficient. The timeline for this programme is ‘medium to long term’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). The sixth programme is “adaption against future cyclone and storm­surges”. The object of this programme is to invest in programmes to adapt coastal areas to cyclones and storm­surges. The reason for this is that the entire coast of Bangladesh is vulnerable to cyclones and storm­surges. In order to minimise casualties, the existing embankments will be repaired and new polders will be constructed. With the sea level rising, drainage will become a problem in local areas. Therefore, the existing sluices and regulators may be insufficient, thus, these needs to be assessed and upgraded where needed. In addition, the cyclone shelters needs to be reviewed and upgraded if necessary. Besides the man­made infrastructure implemented in Bangladesh, a new “green belt” will be carried out. Mangroves will be planted along the coastline in order to gain additional protection, in addition the livelihood of the poor will be increased. This is due to the knowledge giving to the women planting and nursing the trees. Additionally, the mangrove trees provide additional feeding grounds for fish, which will add economic value to the communities (The Livelihood Fund, 2014). The timeline for this programme is ‘medium to long term’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). The seventh programme is “Planning, design and construction of river training works”. Climate change is likely to increase the rainfall and may cause sediment movement. The river systems is expected to become very unstable, and river bank erosion is feared to become more frequent. Even though, river bank erosion is hard to predict, models is being developed in order to predict river bank erosion. Until then, physical observation is needed in order to alert communities about 33 potential threats. River bank erosions have severe consequences for the affected peoples livelihood. Farmers may lose their agricultural lands and become very poor over night. The disaster management community now recognises river bank erosion as one of the most serious natural disasters in Bangladesh. The river training works in place, should either be physical or hydrodynamic modelling. The timeline for this programme is ‘medium to long term’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). The eighth and final programme in the infrastructure theme, is “Planning, design and implementation of resuscitation of the network of rivers and khals through dredging and de­siltation work”. This programme is a lot similar to T1P7, but this programme is developed to “revive” small and medium sized rivers and khals through commercial dredging work, and from local manual labour under supervision. In addition, resuscitation of rivers will also be completed in this programme. The resuscitation of rivers, will help with drainage during monsoon season, it will also help on fish migration during spawning season, this will help the local ecosystem. The spoil gathered from the rivers could be used to raise certain infrastructures like houses, playgrounds, marketplaces and general low­lying villages. The timeline for this programme is ‘short to medium term’ (Ministry of Environment and Forests & Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009). In this chapter some background knowledge, as well as the some general information regarding the initiatives has been presented. The selected initiatives show a lot of diversity and cover a lot of ground. This has been done because for the next chapters this background knowledge will be very useful, next this information will in the next chapter be processed further. 34 Chapter 3 - Analysis of the BCCSAP in theory
In this chapter there is a presentation of the analysis made on the basis of the initiatives in terms of how they work theoretically. The analysis will be conducted by using our theoretical framework on ‘Sustainable Livelihood Approach’ and ‘Vulnerability’. However, an adjustment has had to be implemented in order to make the theoretical framework fit as an analytical framework. The SLA and Vulnerability framework work together to support one another when the two theories are combined it makes the analytical framework stronger. The changes which has been made for the ‘Sustainable Livelihood Approach’ are insignificant. In the analysis there is more of a focus on the capitals and not the rest of the SLA theory. The factors from which the analytical framework has been based on, are therefore first of all the capitals as mentioned in the theory chapter; Natural capital which is the environmental and natural resources, that add to the livelihoods of the people. This is for example soil, water and natural minerals that they can extract from the nature in order to make a living. Human capital encomepasses the skill and knowlegde of the individuals. This also includes the health and physical capabilities of the individuals. In other words, this includes the health and education system which is a very important part of livelihoods, in order to gain a ‘meaningful life’. Social capital reflect on the social resources such as networks, social relations and associations. Physical capital embrace everything physical built by humans. It is everything from infrastructure, the type of buildings possesed, to smaller equipment at technologies. Economic capital defines the financial position of the individuals or the economic position of the society where the individual operates within. Another dimension has also been implemented into the analytical framework, which is posing the following questions; ‘Do the initiatives help improve the different capitals? Which capitals are aided by the initiatives? And how do they improve on the capitals?’. With the second part of the framework builds on the ‘Vulnerability’ theory, the changes have had to be more extensive implementing the theory into an analytical framework. The grounds of the 35 extensive alteration is that the original text is meant as a guideline for policy­makers on how to shape their initiatives, policies etc. Therefore in order to use this, a big alteration was needed accordingly to how they have been changed; “1. Determine the likely level of exposure to climate change, and how climate change might interact with existing stresses and other future drivers of change;” (Reed et. al., 2013, p 72). Has been changed to the question; ‘Do the initiative help with reducing exposure to climate change or other pressing factors?’ “2. Determine the sensitivity of stocks of capital assets and flows of ecosystem services to climate change;” (Reed et. al., 2013, p 72). Has been altered to the question; ‘Do the initiative help with reducing sensitivity in the economic system or ecosystem services?’ “3. Identify adaptation options and factors influencing decisions to develop and/or adopt different adaptation strategies, based on innovation or the use/substitution of existing assets; and 4. Identify and evaluate potential trade­offs between adaptation options.” (Reed et. al., 2013, p 72). Has combined and changed to the question; ‘Do the initiative help with adapting, creating adapting strategies or improving existing adaptations?’ These adaptations on the analytical framework makes it easier to analyse the initiatives, and gives us more of a set criterias for the analysis. In the first half of the T1 initiatives, a general theme is ecological services, and what action to take in order for these services to be more viable in terms of climate change. The initiatives seek to remedy the consequences of climate change and adapt to the environment in order make the ecological services better and more adapted. These are implemented in order to ease the livelihoods of the population in terms of climate pressure and helping the environment within agricultural earning sectors which will also help the financial frame of the livelihoods of the population. The way that the initiatives helps with reducing vulnerability in terms of reducing exposure to climate change and/or other pressing factors is, as mentioned above, that initiatives have a focus on agricultural and sustenance preservation in terms of renovating the different sectors such as agriculture, livestock or aquatic system, which are all factors that reduce either exposure of 36 climate change or other pressing factors. These initiatives helps with reducing sensitivity in the economic system or ecosystem services by providing more sustenance, and methods to multiply the sustenance for the population. The initiatives helps with rebuilding the whole agricultural system, livestock system, and therefore it helps with making the ecosystem services less vulnerable. It can also be argued that it reduces vulnerability in the economic system due to the fact that agriculture is a big part of the economic system. The initiatives help with creating adapting strategies and/or improving existing adaptations by the initiatives all trying to adapt to the climate changes, in terms of changing the agricultural system, and other sustenance systems. Because the climate change decimate the agricultural system, adaptation is needed. When investigating the capitals, the main capital used in these initiatives is natural capital. The initiatives are focused upon making the natural landscape, aquatic environment and agricultural frame more sustainable. Therefore, it seeks to improve the terms of the natural capitals in the livelihoods of the population of Bangladesh. The theme which the initiatives deal with of course differs. Another capital used a lot in these initiatives is physical capital. It can be argued that these initiatives improves the physical capitals when considering the fact that these initiatives develop the structural technology of agriculture. It can be narrowly argued that it eases the economic capital, since natural services also affect the economic situation. In the second part of T1, the initiatives changes to include more of a human spectrum while still maintaining the focus on ecological services. The initiatives regarding drinking water, encompasses changes for three different capitals; human, natural, and physical capital. The initiatives seek to develop adaptive strategies against the diseases which follow climate change adaptive measures so that the population will be having clean water sources, develop adaptive measures to counter the negative economic changes from the climate. These initiatives help with impacts from climate change in terms of reducing other pressing factors such as; illness of population, and ensuring that this does not worsen under the stress of climate change, having resilient water preserves, try to implement economic and social stability, help the population become more climate resilient. These initiatives helps with reducing sensitivity in the ecosystem services and in the economic system. In terms of ecosystem services it helps by having water protection strategies, and livestock protection strategy. Additionally it helps the economic system 37 in terms of trying to stop negative economic consequences from climate change.A main capital here is still natural capital due to the fact that the initiatives focus on ecological services. The difference here is that the initiatives involves the preservation and protection of natural resources from an angle where human position is taken more into consideration. The capitals used in terms of the second half of T1, is to a high degree an improvement of human capital. The initiatives presented here encompasses several health improvements, in order to help the physiological health of people and ensure their survival in a harsh changing climate. Therefore, the initiatives seek to remedy human capital. The initiatives represent an improvement of human capital, because it gives the population more capabilities both physically, but also in terms of welfare for the ones in need. Physical capital is also used because there is an improved infrastructure and technology. Economic capital is a factor due to the fact that the Government intends to implement strategies which will help the population become more stable in terms reducing the unemployment rate. Additionally it enhances the economic capitals by implementing initiatives improving the unemployment rate and financial situation. In the section regarding the T3 initiatives, there is a focus on securing the population and the land against the hazards caused by climate change such as flooding, cyclones, riverbank erosions etc. These initiatives reduce exposure to climate change and lessen vulnerability. It helps with reducing impacts from climate change in terms of; developing systems to help stop flooding, building shelters, repairing and maintaining coastal polders, improving new and old drainage systems, reducing the impacts of cyclones and storm­surges, lessen river bank erosions, etc. The initiatives in T3, uses adaptive measures to counter flooding, making existing cyclone shelters safe and functional, improving existing polders, adaptation against floods, making adaptation measures against cyclones and storms. This reduces vulnerability of the population in terms of being able to adapt to climate change. When looking into capitals in terms of T3, first and foremost these initiative help to improve physical capital because it is improving the livelihood of the population. The initiatives seeks to 38 help the infrastructure of Bangladesh to build new equipment as well as expanding on already existing infrastructure. In these initiatives there is an improvement of natural capitals, because the initiatives seeks to improve the natural framework of Bangladesh. The initiatives also strengthen human capital in terms of the people being educated and obtaining knowledge about the climate changes and consequences of this as well how to manage themselves. In the analysis above there are some specific points analysed from the initiatives. In the following section there will be presenting the general results found from the analysis and a summarisation of the initiatives. The different initiatives help with improving the different capitals; the economic capital is supported by a strengthening of agricultural initiatives, as well as employment and social service initiatives. Additionally the physical capital is highlighted by the many infrastructure initiatives to protect from the consequences of climate change. Furthermore, the human capital is supported by the social service initiatives as well as the climate change strategy initiatives. Finally, the natural capital is backed up by the multitude of different initiatives which seeks to save agriculture, water resources, lakes and so forth. Physical and natural capitals are the ones discussed most frequently, with natural capital having 30 percent of all capital mentions, and physical capital 40 percent (see figure 1 in the appendix). This can be supported by the vulnerability analysis where all the initiatives are either focused on reducing exposure to climate change (natural capital), as well as other pressing factors involving food and water resources preserving and making them more viable (physical capital). In all the initiatives, this factor has been applicable which means that the initiatives are useable for reducing vulnerability in terms of being more resilient toward climate change. Furthermore, it underlines the structural changes as a big part of BCCSAP by looking at adaptations in terms of the vulnerability analysis. Due to the fact that all the initiatives have adaption strategies tied to them, the initiatives come forward with a lot of different adaptations strategies and improving the existing ones. While human capital stands with 19 percent, the economic capital stands with only 11 percent (see figure 1 in the appendix). The initiatives in terms of vulnerability criteria, focuses more on reducing sensitivity in ecosystem services and not much on the economic system. Economic 39 perspectives do not, through theory, put emphasis on the financial situation of Bangladesh which is an important factor. The explanation behind this tendency in terms of economic factors can be explained because the BCCSAP only focuses on the climate change strategies and not the economic perspectives, this is described in another report the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. With the case of human capital, it can be argued that the main point of this report is to look into human welfare in terms of keeping them alive which means making sure there is nourishment resources, clean water, cyclone shelter etc. for the population to survive. From this point of view the above mentioned could be argued to be human capital, however, with the applied definition we have, it means less focus on human capital. One capital not mentioned here, is social capital. The reason for this, put forward by Morse & McNamara (2013), is that social capital is a less important factor when it comes to capitals and strengthening livelihoods. It is a capital more suitable for the post­modern world. The conclusion which has been reached in this analysis is that there is a uneven trend in terms of which capitals that has been favored. However the initiatives as a whole, seem to cover and strengthen the capitals. From this point of view, the analysis would lead to the conclusion that the initiatives are being prone to succeed. In terms of the vulnerability analysis, the results of this analysis would seem to pass the criteria and recommendations. Put forward by Reed et. al (2013) the initiatives focus on reducing climate change and other pressing factors adapting to climate change and more or less reduce sensitivity in the economic system or the ecosystem services. Even though there could be certain reservations for the lopsided divide. The result of this analysis still point towards the initiatives should be viable and usable. When combining results from both analysis, the result that becomes apparent, is that the initiatives cover a wide range of conditions. The initiatives should lead to a strengthening of the population and a diminishing of vulnerability, which makes the initiatives very viable and usable for the future. The outcome which can be taken from this analysis is that the initiatives should be able to work in terms of the theory used. In the following chapter we will examine how the theory also work in practice. 40 Chapter 4 - The BCCSAP in practice
In this part of the project it will be investigated to what extent the BCCSAP and its initiatives are successful in practice. This will be done by examine several scholars’ fieldwork and writings regarding Bangladesh. Furthermore the analysis from previous chapter will be compared with the results of the following chapter in order to discuss to what extent theory and practise match. When looking at the initiatives in the BCCSAP, it is apparent that the Government of Bangladesh realises the major problems that are going to happen due to climate changes. Due to the extent of the BCCSAP, money is needed to execute the initiatives. All the money, received from BCCTF, which is used for the initiatives are overseen by the World Bank. Thus making sure that the projects are viable and the money goes where it is needed. In the previous chapter, the initiatives were analysed to make sure that the initiatives is a success in terms of vulnerability and sustainable livelihoods. when looking at the capitals, these initiatives are prone to succeed. Therefore, in terms of the analyses provided in this project, the outcome of the BCCSAP should strengthen the Bangladeshi population and lessen vulnerability. Though, there might be a difference between theory and reality. Climate change is a global phenomenon however the consequences are local, adapting to the impact of climate change is therefore a local process. The climate change is experienced in the livelihoods of the local population. In order to understand how climate change affects Bangladesh, we have to start with examining the local communities and individuals. The local population are observing the changes in their environment and are very insightful regarding where the help and changes are needed. After all, they feel the changes in their everyday life through their livelihoods. Their lives and livelihoods depends on the capability of adapting to to the climate changes (Raihan, et al. 2010). As described by Alam et. al (2011) the actors which have had power has been disproportionate, the actors which should have had more input into this process have not had the input they should have had. The first example of this is in the case of implementing the BCCSAP initiatives, the government has not really been an active part of doing anything with BCCSAP until the last phase of planning. Furthermore this process has also been unequal because the opposition party 41 have not really had any say nor interference in this process, which means that politically not all of the population has been represented. The next example of this is that in this process the part of the most defenseless part of the population, whom have really been affected by climate change, and are most unprotected in terms of economic and natural change, has not had a voice here. A determinant to consider is when the initiatives were composed, there were some structural issues regarding this, which can describe why they might not be working the way they should. One thing is that these initiatives have been written right in the aftermath of a big disaster, in a time where the governmental system has been fragile, which means that structurally it has not been too viable to compose these initiatives (Alam et. al., 2011). There is a lack of institutional setup to incorporate local governance into planning and policy making regarding the climate change adaption. The local politicians and government officials have very little knowledge of the BCCSAP. A very clear indication of that, is that the BCCSAP is written in English and not translated into Bengali. Policies and strategies should be written in the native language so that people can participate in government functions. Local individuals might not be able to read the BCCSAP (Raihan, et al., 2010). Raihan et al. (2010) mentions that the BCCSAP provide standard directions and budgets that do not allow flexible local solutions. The BCCSAP is an expert­driven document based on global scientific models and predictions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This means that the climate change adaptation plan is not informed by local knowledge. This is not very suitable for local areas where local knowledge is needed in order for making efficient and sustainable adaptation (Raihan, et al., 2010). It is important to remember that Bangladesh consists of five ecological zones and 30 agro­ecological zones. In the global models though, it is often considered in a single grid. This results in huge misapprehensions of the big ecological differences in Bangladesh. There is a big variation in temperature and rainfall through Bangladesh and the impacts of climate change therefore also depends on the area (Raihan, et al., 2010). Raihan et al. (2010) states “An appropriate action plan must build on in­depth understanding of how climate change affects each local context, and there must be space and flexibility in the planning and budgeting processes to find solutions suited to each local context”. This is not the 42 case with the BCCSAP since no local knowledge have been applied (Raihan, et al. 2010). The locals are the ones who would know what is needed right in the moment when they have been hit by disaster and are suffering under the effects, however they were not consulted on this. The defense put forward for this is that according to the deadline of handing in these initiatives it was not a possibility to include the populations opinion. Additionally it was argued that they would not know more than the experts what would be good in terms of climate change, so the populations opinion was replaced with the experts assessment (Raihan, M. S. et al. 2010). The actors who had the possibility to put forward their point of view was then bureaucrats, experts, NGOs, and donors (Alam et. al., 2011). Firstly a look at the bureaucrats will be provided. The bureaucrats have been a big part when it came to making decisions, signing agreements, etc. They have been a big part of deciding the structure of these initiatives, which in itself is not bad, since they are experts with knowledge of political process. However, the issue that this presents is that the bureaucrats who had a say, were mainly the bureaucrats working for the government, even though they can have their own ideology, this still represents a crooked presentation (Alam et. al., 2011). When taking a look at experts, they had a big role in building up the initiatives which is logical enough considering that they have the knowledge needed in order to construct the right initiatives. Nonetheless this is problematic because they got to speak for the poorest and weakest of the population, when this group of people are presumably wealthy, well­educated, and capable in crisis. The dilemma lies in that the experts will have little knowledge of how it is to live as the resource­weak population, therefore they will implement their idea of how climate change affect them or what they think is useable longterm, not what the population need right now. An obvious example of this, is implementing urban drainage and sewer systems in urban areas as a priority into the initiatives when the vulnerable part of the population predominantly will be living in rural areas (Alam et. al., 2011). Another actor is the NGOs who have tried to implement opinions of different politicians from all sides, and tried to implement the public opinion however this was not very successful. In general the NGOs were not very successful until until the last phase of implementing strategies. 43 A dominant actor has been the financial donors of the initiatives, this means that the part of the population with the most resources, and foreign actors have had a very big part of determining what the entire population of Bangladesh has needed in terms of climate change. If we look at figure 2 (see appendix), it can be viewed that the donors have throughout this process been a controlling power and influence on the process (Alam et. al., 2011). This means that the process of making the initiatives has been influenced by a small part of the population, usually the ones with most ressources. This means that these initiatives are lacking certain features when taking into consideration under which conditions, poverty, bad housing, flooding etc. a considerable part of the population are living in. It can also be argued that the entire process of building up these initiatives has been very undemocratic because the decision has been influenced by the people with the most resources, and the interest of the greater good has been overlooked. The undemocratic decision making when establishing the initiatives shows that global warming is not the only problem in Bangladesh. Another aspect to consider is the development gap. The environment which the population live in is shaped by social, cultural, environmental and economic factors. Climate change is therefore just a part of the environment affecting the livelihoods which they have to manage simultaneously with the remaining factors. Climate change is therefore not the only reason behind the problems of the local communities. The challenges are caused by a combination of all the factors together. In this case, poor governance and poverty has a very big impact on the livelihoods as well. Therefore when investigating how to overcome the climate change, emphasis have to be put on all the factors shaping the environment of the livelihoods. Investigating the climate change alone is simply not effective enough in terms of improving the sustainable livelihoods of the population. Raihan et al. (2010) states: “[adapting to climate change] is essentially about development, and requires a comprehensive approach taking development issues into consideration as well as environmental and sustainability issues” (Raihan, et al. 2010). In Bangladesh coping with climate changes is essential for further development to succeed, but more economic stability would also improve the populations adaptability. 44 The BCCSAP is the first step towards development and securing the future of Bangladesh in terms of climate change. It does not put emphasis on the current livelihoods and poverty in the local communities. Some individuals are excessively poor and can therefore not think about the future. They need to see changes regarding their livelihoods right now. They do not have the time for the initiatives to first improve the climate change before their livelihoods are improved. The population need to see changes in all the different factors of their surroundings ­ not just climate change within the environmental factor. Raihan et. al. (2010) states the following: “Livelihood is the number one concern for poor people in rural Bangladesh. The policy makers might want to talk about climate change; they want to talk about livelihoods. The policy makers might want to talk about adaptation for the future; they want to talk about changes that are happening right now, like those that are affecting their ability to farm.” The different concerns mentioned by Raihan et. al. (2010) is related to the capitals mentioned in the theory of sustainable livelihoods where the majority of the initiatives mentioned in BCCSAP can be classified as part of the natural capital or physical capital. According to the SLA theory there are five different forms of capital which is necessary in order to have sustainable livelihood (Morse & McNamara, 2013). One could therefore argue that the BCCSAP is not sufficient, in terms of equally covering the capitals, and that if Bangladesh only implement the initiatives mentioned in the BCCSAP they will not be able to create sustainable livelihoods for the people of Bangladesh. Adaptation for the people of Bangladesh can therefore not only consist of increased climate change resilience but also have to consist of solution for their basic problems regarding food, security, and livelihood strategies meanwhile adapting to the climate change, and reducing risks during natural disasters etc. which damage their assets and livelihoods. Climate change adaptation can therefore only happen through addressing the development gab (Raihan et. al. 2010). A large problem in Bangladesh is that a great part of the Bangladeshi population are very poor. The income of the population is part of the economic or financial capital and it plays a big role in the livelihood of the individuals as they are not able to build safer houses, store food for seasons of drought or flood, replace their belongings if they are lost in a natural disaster and so on. 45 There is also a lack of social capital because families will often have to migrate to ensure more stable livelihoods, or a family member moves away from the family to earn more money to support the others. Human capital which is concerned with knowledge, health and such, has not yet become a great priority since basic survival is a higher priority, but knowledge about alternative farming, climate changes, sanitation and so on are all of great importance. The initiatives so far mainly focusses on natural capital when looking at climate changes and even though they are also focussed on physical capital such as dams, riverside embankment and cyclone houses are not being maintained and do not always correlate with the needs of the locals. The locals care more about getting food right now rather than gaining food security in the future. When looking at climate change adaptation the government therefore also have to have socio­economic development in mind. The adaptation invest in mostly long­term planning which is beyond the scope of local people who do not have their basic needs within livelihoods covered (Raihan et al. 2010). A good example of the lack of institutional setup to incorporate local governance and knowledge into planning and policy making regarding the climate change adaption is the Cyclone Resistant Houses which is not viewed as successful by the recipients. The first issue described by local recipients is that they had no knowledge of the plans about making these houses before they were build and they were in no way part of determining the structure of the house. The second and largest problem identified by the recipients is the structure of the house, on which they had no influence (Haque, Rouf & Khan, 2011). The house consists of a concrete floor, a pillar in each corner and a roof. The two main reasoning behind this structure is firstly that providing a full house would make the recipients stay in the house during a natural disaster instead of seeking shelter at one of the secure houses. The second reasoning was that if the house had walls, water from floods and tides could stay inside the house. It was also argued that the families receiving a house could always build the walls themselves (Haque, Rouf & Khan, 2011). The problems with these reasonings is that the house looses its purpose. If it is not secure enough for them to stay there during a cyclone or a flood they have no need for it in the first place. It 46 might be true that the water could stay inside the house if it had walls, but now there are no protection from rain, cold, storms and floods. If there is a flood the belongings of the family will on the other hand wash away and leave them with even less then to begin with (Haque, Rouf & Khan, 2011). Other arguments made against these cyclone houses is that it is also a very insecure living environment regarding different crimes, especially to women and young girls. Furthermore, there are no extra facilities such as clean water and hygiene facilities. This is of course not a must, but could have been a manageable way of improving the livelihood of the family receiving the house (Haque, Rouf & Khan, 2011). From our analysis in the previous chapter regarding the BCCSAP, it is noticeable that in theory, the BCCSAP should improve the sustainable livelihoods of the locals. However this is not seen in practice. The problem about the BCCSAP is that it is a future plan that do not address the current challenges immediately. According to the theory, the BCCSAP seems to be working when it is up and running. The problem in practice though is that the people of Bangladesh do not have the time and resources for these initiatives to work. The BCCSAP was made in 2009 and now five years later people still wait for the initiatives and some struggle to survive. The ten year plan of BCCSAP is now halfway through and sustainable livelihoods is still far away. This is a clear example of how theory and practice do not match. Maybe in the future the BCCSAP will work according to the theory, but this requires that other areas of the environment will be improved, for example poverty. A reason for this mismatch between theory and practice might be the way that the BCCSAP is structured and the approach used in order to adapt to climate change. The BCCSAP is structured from top to bottom, which means that the BCCSAP is made by the Government of Bangladesh, NGO’s, civil society, and donors, not using local knowledge. The initiatives might have been more successful at the current time if the BCCSAP have used a bottom up approach. By having a bottom up approach, the locals would share their knowledge and needs. The Government could then use this knowledge in the creation of the BCCSAP and by that, making sure that the basic needs for livelihoods would be covered now, meanwhile focusing on the future through the initiatives. By having a bottom up approach, unsuccessful 47 projects such as the cyclone shelter houses as mentioned earlier might not appear. An argument for the top­down approach used, is that the BCCSAP was made under a short period of time. Time for questioning and investigation the local areas in depth has not been available. Furthermore, Bangladesh suffer from a high level of corruption. By having a top­down approach with the world bank controlling the money and not implementing local governance, they have diminished the chance money disappearing in corruption. By having a bottom­up approach using the local knowledge through local governance to the national government, some money might disappear in corruption. The BCCSAP was made after a cyclone in 2009 and they were therefore in a hurry to get it done. If they had spent more time on investigating the local areas and using the local knowledge, the initiatives might have been more successful. By applying more time, they could have made a mix of both the top­down approaches where knowledge where in a bottom­up approach, and the initiatives would work as a top­down approach making monitoring the money and resources. By doing that, the government would still have the control but also important local knowledge. In this chapter it has been deliberated whether the presumption discovered in chapter 3, that the BCCSAP initiatives should work in theory, would be viable in reality. It has been debated that there have been several flaws such as who have been making the initiatives. It was a very small part of the population who was included in the construction of the initiatives and not necessarily the people with the most knowledge about the certain area. As a result of this, some of the initiatives implemented has not been very successful as they have not completely fulfilled the needs of the population and considered the various risks for all inhabitants. The main issue with the initiatives according to the population is that they are all considering the future while the people need the development to happen as fast as possible. It has also been argued that the initiatives has only considered a limited amount of issues when it comes to improving the livelihoods of the people. This issue is compared to the theory of Sustainable Livelihoods which further argues that initiatives are not sufficient. The reason for this might be the top­down approach and strict timeframe used by the government. By using the time and effort gathering more local knowledge more emphasis would have been put on the population’s livelihood 48 meanwhile implementing the initiatives. By doing this, the BCCSAP in theory might have been more efficient in practice. 49 Chapter 5 - Conclusion
In the beginning of this project the problems occurring in Bangladesh was displayed, showing the impact of climate change and the consequences that these climate changes has on the population. Additionally, included in this display of the current challenges, was an establishment of the relevance and importance of discussing this topic. Some of the main concepts of the project were put forward, and the usage of these and how they would be understood was described. After this, the methodology used in the research was presented, and an explanation of the theories was given, presenting the three theories which would later be used to analyse the climate change initiatives from the BCCSAP. After the general information about the topic of the project and the methodology behind the research was presented, the chosen initiatives within the BCCSAP were outlined. The initiatives were chosen according to relevance of the project. The selected initiatives were diverse and presented many different spectrums. There was an overweight of infrastructural and natural changes within the initiatives. This tendency not only goes for the chosen initiatives, but is a general tendency within the BCCSAP. When looking at the analysis in this project, it can be observed that a tendency in the initiatives, is that some capitals has been favoured more than other. When looking at the initiatives from an analytical point of view, the initiatives seemed to correlate with the capitals mentioned in the theory of Sustainable Livelihoods. In other words this meant that when looking at the initiatives in relation to the idea of sustainable livelihoods, the initiatives was seen as being prone to being successful. When considering the theory of vulnerability, it seems as if the initiatives would be useful in terms of reducing vulnerability in the population of Bangladesh. The initiatives focus on reducing the consequences of climate change, adapting to climate changes and to some extent also on improving the economic system. In terms of the analysis conducted here, the initiatives implemented cover all of the main capitals, as well as they help to reduce the vulnerability, which means they should work in theory. 50 When combining results from analysing with both the “SLA” and “Vulnerability” framework, the results we come forward to is that the initiatives cover a wide range of conditions, and therefore should, in theory, be functional. The BCCSAP initiatives should lead to a strengthening of the population as well as a lessening of vulnerability which makes the initiatives usable for the future. This fact means that composing these initiatives, which theoretically work, have been an accomplishment for the Government of Bangladesh and their cooperative partners. Theoretically the initiatives should improve the livelihoods of the population of Bangladesh, because the initiatives make changes in terms of; bettering the infrastructure, improving the agricultural system, trying to establish basic human welfare, enhancing the frames around the lives of the Bangladeshi people. However, in reality these result do not seem to be carried out. The infrastructure will be improved but not in terms of housing or infrastructure, which a vulnerable population would need right now. So far the study of the project has shown that the BCCSAP initiatives are viable in theory. When looking at last chapter about the initiatives, in practice, it was argued that there were several imperfections in the BCCSAP report. One of these imperfections considered who created the initiatives and decided which ones should be prioritised. Here it was discovered that only a very small part of the population decided how the initiatives should be. This small part of the population who was involved, was not necessarily the ones with the most knowledge on the topic. As a consequence of this, some of the initiatives implemented has not been very useful in reality and has not taking into consideration how the general inhabitants of Bangladesh live their lives and what they might need to improve their livelihood. This lack of communication has meant that some areas of Bangladesh have received help from the initiatives, which did not fit the problems that they were facing or which only created new problems as a replacement for the previous issues. As stated in chapter four which describes the initiatives in practise, one of the main conflict regarding the initiatives according to the people living in Bangladesh, is that the initiatives are long termed which means that they will not receive the immediate help which would make them less vulnerable to the challenges of climate change and improve their living standards. 51 We can also conclude that the BCCSAP initiatives are focussing more on some capitals than others. As stated in the previous chapter all the capitals must be present in order to create a sustainable livelihood for the population. The fact that the initiatives within the BCCSAP do not cover all the criteria used for a sustainable livelihood means that the initiatives in practise are not successful even though that was the conclusion drawn when only looking at the theoretical level. A shorter and more precise answer to our research question could be that the BCCSAP is successful in theory, but that they have only made a minor improvement on the sustainable livelihoods of the people of Bangladesh in practise. Since the conclusion of this project is that the initiatives were not as successful in reality as they were in theory, Bangladesh will have to initialise further actions in order to secure a sustainable livelihood for the population. Climate changes are, as mentioned earlier, not the only issue Bangladesh has. They have issues with poverty, population density, lack of education, corruption and so on. Therefore, some of these issues would also have to be improved if they were to create a sustainable livelihood. As mentioned above, Bangladesh has various different issues which could have been worth examining, such as the economic development of the country or the relation between public health and the population density. If looking outside Bangladesh, a choice of study could have been the impact of human pollution on the environment or political challenges with economic support to development countries etc. It could also have been possible to look at different initiatives besides the ones initialised by the government of Bangladesh. The migration due to poverty and climate changes, or reflect on the political complications that might occur as a result of these initiatives and the interference of other countries could have been investigated. If one were to re­evaluate these initiatives, and based on the background of the theoretics and findings, the following recommendations could be as following; making initiatives to deal with immediate concerns such as lack of resources, ­ this could possibly be immediate human welfare, or make infrastructure focus more on human habitation by building permanent disaster residences. These would be the immediate recommendations which could be made, when viewing the results of this project. 52 Literature list
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